This week Melbourne Rockers, Jet played an impromptu afternoon set in AC/CD Lane, out the front of the city’s iconic Cherry Bar to announce their new National Tour. It almost seems like Jet have been around forever since their debut in 2003 until what then seemed like their final album, Shaka Rock in 2009, but there was a world, Pre-Jet and I remember it well…
Jet arrived on the scene, seemingly out of nowhere & fully formed, slotting in neatly with the rest of the new ‘Rock’n’Roll Revival’, alongside acts like The Strokes, The Hives, The Vines and The Kings of Leon. A little before this I was DJing in a fantastic Melbourne Bar n’ Bandroom called ‘The 9th Ward’ (now sadly, burned down) playing Indie, Soul & Rock’n’Roll records late into the night. My interest was peaked by a poster advertising a month-long residency at The 9th Ward from a then pretty much unknown Jet, They looked great. They dressed like me (If not even slightly better) and I was pretty confident by their haircuts I’d probably like them.
I remember those gigs vividly and I admit that, up until about halfway through the first night at least, I almost mistook them for a cover band. Even the most die-hard of Jet fans would have to admit that their debut album, Get Born is lifted heavily from the great Rock’n’Roll songbook (Iggy Pop basslines, Status Quo riffs, The Beatles Piano and the vocal stylings of You Am I‘s Tim Rogers, anyone?) but that was kinda their charm, They were just as influenced by their parents’ record collection as any of us were and they wore it on their collective sleeve. They played each of their 4 Friday night sets with relentless enthusiasm & a refreshing humility, sounding better & better with every passing week. After each gig they’d always hang out, request songs and talk to people. We got on well. I saw them play many more times in many different venues after that, watching the crowds get bigger & bigger as they went.
Their popularity grew quickly but nobody expected, least of all the band themselves how much they’d blow up in the coming months. It was less than a year later and these lads from Dingley of all places were being offered multi-million dollar record deals and being lauded everywhere from the U.K. to the U.S. for their brand of short, sharp and quintessentially Australian, Pop Rock.
3 albums, a hiatus or two, a few solo efforts and a coupla classic Rock’n’Roll bust-ups later, they’re back! Be sure to check them out on their tour later this year. By all accounts, they’re still sounding pretty great.